Oxbow Lake Formation

Oxbow lake formation is the process by which a meandering river cuts off one of its own loops, usually during a large flood when the current breaches the narrow neck of land between two adjacent bends and takes the shorter, straighter path. The abandoned loop is sealed at both ends by sediment deposition and left behind as a crescent-shaped standing body of water, which then fills gradually with fine sediment and organic matter until it becomes a wetland or disappears entirely. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/